Pierre-simon laplace contributions to mathematics

Pierre-simon laplace achievements
Pierre-simon laplace died
Pierre-simon laplace cause of death

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Quick Info

Born

23 March 1749
Beaumont-en-Auge, Normandy, France

Died

5 March 1827
Paris, France

Summary

Pierre-Simon Laplace proved the stability of the solar system. In analysis Laplace introduced the potential function and Laplace coefficients. He also put the theory of mathematical probability on a sound footing.

Biography

Pierre-Simon Laplace's father, Pierre Laplace, was comfortably well off in the cider trade. Laplace's mother, Marie-Anne Sochon, came from a fairly prosperous farming family who owned land at Tourgéville. Many accounts of Laplace say his family were 'poor farming people' or 'peasant farmers' but these seem to be rather inaccurate although there is little evidence of academic achievement except for an uncle who is thought to have been a secondary school teacher of mathematics. This is stated in [1] in these terms:-

There is little record of intellectual distinction in the family beyond what was to be expected of the cultivated provincial bourgeoisie and the minor gentry.

Laplace attended a Benedictine priory school in Beaumont-en-Au

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Pierre Simon Laplace (1749 - 1827)

From `A Short Account of the History of Mathematics' (4th edition, 1908) by W. W. Rouse Ball.

Pierre Simon Laplace was born at Beaumont-en-Auge in Normandy on March 23, 1749, and died at Paris on March 5, 1827. He was the son of a small cottager or perhaps a farm-labourer, and owed his education to the interest excited in some wealthy neighbours by his abilities and engaging presence. Very little is known of his early years, for when he became distinguished he had the pettiness to hold himself aloof both from his relatives and from those who had assisted him. It would seem from a pupil he became an usher in the school at Beaumont; but, having procured a letter of introduction to D'Alembert, he went to Paris to push his fortune. A paper on the principles of mechanics excited D'Alembert's interest, and on his recommendation a place in the military school was offered to Laplace.

Secure of a competency, Laplace now threw himself into original research, and in the next seventeen years, 1771-1787, he produced much of his original work in astro

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By Olivia Mancuso

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A son of agriculturalists, Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827) was a trailblazer in the mathematics community from a very young age. Though his father hoped he'd become a priest, Laplace chose a different path. His early work fast-tracked him to becoming one of the most prolific mathematicians in the era of the French Revolution.

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Laplace hit celebrity status in the early 1800s when he reported his findings that provided accurate calculations of the motion of the planets and their satellites. His work negated Isaac Newton's theory that divine intervention was required to stabilize the solar system. Read on to learn more about his noteworthy findings!

Pierre-Simon Laplace: The Priest that Never Was

Portrait of mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace, by James Posselwhite, via Wikimedia

Pierre-Simon Laplace was born in 1749 in Normandy, France, to propertied parents who lived quite comfortably. Pierre Laplace Senior was also a cider merchant in their town of Beaumont. While Laplace Senior desired his son to become a priest, the budding math